DNR outlines 2026 lands bill as committee adopts amendment and sends measure to Ways and Means

Representative Godfried moved House File 4222, the DNR’s annual lands bill, and the committee adopted an author A4 amendment that removed an Otter Tail transfer at the DNR’s request and added two St. Louis County transfer provisions previously included in another bill. The motion to re‑refer the bill to Ways and Means passed by voice vote.

Lori Klein, attorney for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Division of Lands and Minerals, testified that the bill contains statutory clarifications and several property adjustments. "Each year, the DNR proposes a lands bill," Klein told the committee, and she described changes including amendments ‘‘to provide that appraisals are not required when DNR as a tenant leases property from a landowner’’ and provisions setting how the DNR must price easements, including trout stream easements and native prairie bank easements.

Klein said the bill adds roughly 32 acres to Frontenac State Park in Goodhue County to facilitate a possible future acquisition and about 20 acres to Great River Bluff State Park in Winona County. She also summarized sections that authorize sales or conveyances of small parcels of surplus state land bordering public waters: a public sale of roughly 4.3 acres in Becker County, a private sale of up to 19.2 acres in Mille Lacs County to a federally recognized tribe, a zero‑cost conveyance of roughly 0.4 acres in Pine County to an adjacent owner, and a conveyance of about 6.2 acres in Wabasha County to the city of Elgin for nonmotorized recreation and fishing access.

Committee members discussed a late A5 amendment from the Minnesota Historical Society seeking corrections to a 2024 transfer’s legal description and a small transfer at the Marine Mill Historic Site. David Kelleher of the Minnesota Historical Society explained the amendment and apologized for the late timing, noting the historical society preferred to bring the change directly to the committee to clarify an earlier omission. Because the amendment arrived late in the process, the committee did not act on A5 and the sponsor withdrew it to allow public review and possible addition at Ways and Means.

The committee adopted the A4 amendment and re‑referred the bill to the Ways and Means Committee for further consideration. The bill’s statutory sections establishing easement pricing and the timing of enactment were discussed as part of the DNR’s presentation; Klein said the effective date for certain sections would be "the day following enactment." The measure will advance to Ways and Means with the adopted A4 changes and the A5 request noted for possible supplemental consideration.